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KANSAS CITY'S HOWARD AND UTAH VALLEY'S NIELSEN TAKE HOME PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Kansas City's Lexie Howard and Utah Valley's Brooklyn Nielsen have been named the Western Athletic Conference Women's Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 16-22.
Howard, a junior forward/midfielder from Kearney, Mo. (Kearney High School), scored the game-winning goals in both the 2-1 victory over UT Rio Grande Valley and the 1-0 victory over NM State to help her team clinch the No. 1 seed in the WAC Tournament. She led the team in shots, shots on goal, and goals on the weekend. Howard played 164 minutes and recorded eight shots with five of those on goal.
Nielsen, a sophomore goalkeeper from Sandy, Utah (Jordan High School), led the Utah Valley defense to a pair of shutout victories over Grand Canyon and CSU Bakersfield to help her team clinch the No. 2 seed in the WAC Tournament. She made two key saves in the 1-0 game against Grand Canyon and registered five saves in the 1-0 shutout over CSU Bakersfield. Nielsen played all 180 minutes in the box and was faced with 15 shots.
Other offensive nominees: NM State's Devin Hart scored a hat trick as well as assisted two others in the 8-0 victory over Chicago State … UT Rio Grande Valley's Sarah Bonney was involved in the first three goals of the 6-0 victory over Chicago State scoring the first two and assisting the third… Utah Valley's Breanna DeWaal scored both goals for her team over the weekend in the 1-0 victory over Grand Canyon and the 1-0 victory over CSU Bakersfield.
Other defensive nominees: Kansas City's Maddi Cipolla led the Roos defensively playing all 180 minutes only allowing one goal… NM State's Dmitri Fong earned her fifth shutout of the season and only allowed one goal on the weekend after facing 37 shots… UT Rio Grande Valley's Tuva Rolstad Nilsen was the defensive leader over the 1-1 weekend playing 135 minutes.
TOP DRAWER TEAM
Lexie Howard was named to the Honorable Mention Team of the Week on Top Drawer Soccer for the week of Oct. 16-22. With her performance this past weekend she was also named WAC Offensive Player of the Week for the third time this season. She helped her team keep their unbeaten streak in conference play and clinch the No. 1 seed to the tournament at Grand Canyon next weekend.
LET'S TALK NUMBERS
NM State leads the WAC with 40 goals and 114 points while Utah Valley is on top of the leader board with 289 shots, 130 corner kicks and 36 assists. Kansas City has the most shutouts with ten and has the best goals against average (0.82).
Individually, NM State's Devin Hart's hat trick this past weekend pushed her to the top of the leader board with 11 goals and 30 points. Kansas City's Lexie Howard finds herself at the top of the charts on game-winning goals after producing two this past weekend. Hart had two assists against Chicago State to bring her overall total to eight. Grand Canyon's McKenzie Cook leads the WAC with 64 shots. Defensively, Kansas City's Erin Roth has the best goals against average (0.39) as well as the best save percentage (0.889). Roth and NM State' Dmitri Fong each have five shutouts and Chicago State's Audra Wisehart has made 95 saves this season.
HAT TRICK
This past Friday, NM State had two student-athletes complete a hat trick in the 8-0 victory over Chicago State. The scoring started in the 29th minute by Devin Hart who assisted Aileen Galicia's goal exactly three minutes later. Galicia increased the NM State lead to three in the 58th minute of the match and completed her hat trick in the 72nd minute. Hart then extended the lead to five with another goal in the 76th minute and completed her hat trick in the 83rd minute of the match.
CLINCHED
Only two spots have been set for the 2017 WAC Women's Soccer Tournament which begins Nov. 1. Kansas City has clinched the top seed with a perfect record in conference with one more game to go. Utah Valley has clinched the second seed with a conference record of 5-1. UT Rio Grande Valley, NM State and Seattle U will be fighting for the third, fourth and fifth seeds while CSU Bakersfield and Grand Canyon are fighting for the last spot to extend their season. Friday night will determine who will join the other five in Phoenix as those two teams are going to go head to head.
READY TO GO
Grand Canyon is finally done with their four season wait and is now eligible for post season play. Since joining the WAC in 2013, Grand Canyon has consistently shown they can compete while never finding themselves lower than fourth in the ranks at the end of each season. Along with this eligibility, Grand Canyon was chosen to host this upcoming WAC tournament and is eligible to play in the NCAA tournament.
CSU BAKERFIELD'S GREEN SHOWING SOME "CLASSâ€
CSU Bakersfield women's soccer student-athlete Maja Green was one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Green will graduate this spring with a degree in business administration. She currently holds a 3.62 cumulative grade-point average and is on pace to graduate cum laude. She has earned Academic All-WAC honors in each of her first three seasons at CSU Bakersfield and is expected to complete her fourth season with the honor as well.
Green has been at the heart of every community service event in which the team has been involved. Whether it's reading in schools or coaching young players at clinics, she goes above and beyond to make it the best experience for everyone. As a captain, she also has helped the team organize events in the community and communicate the importance of them.
Even as a defender, Green ranks on the school's top 20 all-time list in career points and goals. She is on pace to break the CSUB Division I record for matches started and minutes played. She has been a constant fixture on the CSUB back line and has helped the Roadrunner defense transform into a formidable wall. Prior to her arrival at CSUB, the 2013 squad allowed its opponents to score nearly three times as many goals. A year ago, with Green leading the effort, the ‘Runners narrowed the gap to only five goals difference. She has been honored by the WAC several times including first team All-WAC (2016), second team All-WAC (2014) and being named preseason All-WAC twice in her career.
Unfortunately, she wasn't chosen to be one of the ten finalists.
COMING TO YOU LIVE
The WAC Diginal Network will broadcast over 60 games this season including all five games of the 2017 WAC Women's Soccer Tournament in Phoenix, Arizona.